"Crime of the century" is an
idiomatic phrase
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language ...
used to describe particularly sensational or notorious criminal cases.
[ Chua-Eoan, Howard (n.d.)]
"Crimes of the Century: The Top 25"
''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
''. Retrieved September 10, 2021. In the United States, it is often — though not exclusively — used in reference to the
Lindbergh kidnapping
On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Am ...
. However, the phrase was in popular use much earlier in the 19th-century and has been used repeatedly ever since.
[*Henry Hunt]
''The Crime of the Century; Or, the Assassination of Dr. Patrick Henry Cronin''
H. L. & D. H. Kochersperger, 1889. via Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
Other criminal cases that have also been described as "the crime of the century" include the Leopold and Loeb
Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. (November 19, 1904 – August 29, 1971) and Richard Albert Loeb (; June 11, 1905 – January 28, 1936), usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb, were two wealthy students at the University of Chicago ...
case,[Hal Higdon, ''Leopold and Loeb: The Crime of the Century'', ]University of Illinois Press
The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...
, 1999 (originally published 1975). . the murder of Patrick Henry Cronin,Richard Speck
Richard Benjamin Speck (December 6, 1941 – December 5, 1991) was an American mass murderer who killed eight student nurses in their South Deering, Chicago, residence via stabbing, strangling, slashing their throats, or a combination of the th ...
case.
See also
*Trial of the century
__NOTOC__
Trial of the century is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 19th, 20th and 21st century. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such i ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crime of the century
English phrases
English-language idioms
Lindbergh kidnapping